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Tip fabrication methods of hollow metal microneedles

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Abstract

Hollow microneedles can penetrate the corneum of the skin and various biological barriers. Drugs can enter through a minimally invasive path or bodily fluid can be collected from the epidermis or dermis. This makes hollow microneedles (MN) a promising tool for drug delivery and body fluid sensing in a painless manner. Here, we propose a nickel microneedle with a length of 720 µm, an inner diameter of 27 µm, and an outer diameter of 87 µm. To construct the metal hollow microneedle model, we introduce three different manufacturing methods. The three methods are laser cutting, re-dissolution by SU-8 coating, and ultrasonic blade cutting. To verify the penetration capability, the microneedle array was tested to penetrate of the rabbit skin without rupture. The microneedle array was also repeatedly used in a film puncture experiment to verify the reliability of the structure. These microneedles can be combined with syringes and other drug delivery devices to achieve accurate quantitative and controllable flow rates of drug delivery. Through mechanical test and solution delivery test, we demonstrated that the microneedle structure has strong mechanical strength and a controllable rate of drug delivery, which is feasible as a drug delivery device.

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Acknowledgments

This research was sponsored by the Seoul National University of Science and Technology internal research fund (Project number #2020-0570).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea

    Chao-Wei Dong & Woo-Tae Park

  2. Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea

    Jong-Yeong Jeon, Hye-Min Kang & Woo-Tae Park

Authors
  1. Chao-Wei Dong
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  2. Jong-Yeong Jeon
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  3. Hye-Min Kang
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  4. Woo-Tae Park
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Woo-Tae Park.

Additional information

Chao-Wei Dong received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Hannam University, Korea in 2018 and M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea, in 2020. For his M.S. research, he worked on developing a micropump for medical applications. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering Department of Seoul National University of Science and Technology. His research interests include microscale package for guide wire and hollow microneedle for transdermal drug delivery.

Jong-Yeong Jeon is an undergraduate researcher of the Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea. He received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea in 2022. His research interests include hollow microneedle for transdermal drug delivery.

Hye-Min Kang is an undergraduate researcher of the Seoul National University of Science and Technology. She received her B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering graduate from Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea in 2022. Her research interests include semiconductor and micromedical equipment.

Woo-Tae Park received the B.S. degree in mechanical design from Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, in 2000, the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 2002 and 2006 respectively. For his Ph.D., he worked on wafer scale encapsulated MEMS devices for biomedical applications. After graduation, he worked at Intel Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor, and IME Singapore, leading several projects on MEMS development. He has authored more than 80 journals and refereed conference papers and has 14 issued and pending patents. He is currently an Associate Professor at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, conducting research on microscale medical devices.

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Dong, CW., Jeon, JY., Kang, HM. et al. Tip fabrication methods of hollow metal microneedles. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 261–269 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-022-1226-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-022-1226-z

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